Dealing with late rentals? Best exercises for Landlords and Tenants

In managing properties there would always be a time that tenants will be late in paying rent. Communication between the tenant and the landlord is the only way to work out late rent issues.

Advice for tenants:

Call first. Things will work out in a good way if you make the effort of contacting your landlords first; don’t wait for them to call you.

Be sure to know the late fee agreement and assure you landlord you will follow it. If you can’t comply with the terms, work out a different arrangement with your landlord.

Give your landlord a definite date for paying the rent – try not to be a few days late.

If you lost your job and you will be unable to pay the rent, just be honest and tell your landlord. Even though you know that you have to move – it’s better to let the landlord know what’s going on – a decent landlord will give you time and will not let you move immediately.

Advice for landlords:

Be understanding and try not to be upset when a tenant calls and says that rent will be late.

If the your tenant is a good tenant, compromise – extend the late fee grace period – then begin late fees if the tenant does not pay rent on the agreed upon extended day.

Listen first to the tenant and their reasons before imposing late fees. Once a tenant left a message to tell me that rent would be late and they would pay it a few days later. The rent never came, but they called back. When I asked the tenant what was going on, it turned out their child went to the emergency room and they had to pay a substantial co-pay. I did not impose any fees because sometimes, there really is an acceptable reason.

Give incentives for late-paying tenants. For example, after the first time a tenant is late, and has paid rent plus late fees, I give them a “one free late fee waived” coupon. For the remainder of their lease, they can only use it one time.. I’ve found it to be a good incentive because they don’t want to use up their coupon!

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